News Notes
Wednesday 13 March 2024
BOEING WHISTLEBLOWER
Al-Sibai, Noor (3/12/24) “Boeing Whistleblower’s Attorneys Say they don’t see Any Indication of Suicide Risk. Yahoo News.
- This death occurred during the several day process of giving a deposition against Boeing.
- John Barnett, a 62-year-old man, had traveled to Charleston, South Carolina from Louisiana to finally be deposed for his 2017 Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) complaint against Boeing, his ex-employer.
- Barnett’s attorney, Brian Knowles, told the Corporate Crime Reporter blog, that he failed to show up at one of the sessions over the weekenk. His attorneys were unable to contact him and so phoned his hotel.
- Barnett’s body was found at the hotel where he was staying in his truck in the parking lot.
- His lawyers are urging investigators to take a closer look after an initial determination that the death wounds were self-inflicted.
- One of Barnett’s attorneys said that he (Barnett) was reaching the end of a retaliation lawsuit and “was in very good spirits” Barnett was “looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on.”
- Lawyers released an email statement which read, in part: “We didn’t see any indication that he would take his own life.” “No one can believe it.”
- Barnett alleged that he experienced stress as his superior began retaliating against him for raising safety concerns.
Editor (3/10/2024) Corporate Crime Reporter blog. Boeing Whistleblower Found dead in Charleston After Brek in Depositions.
- John Barnett’s lawyer called this a “tragic day.” “The defense examined him all day yesterday (Friday) and did not finish. We agreed to continue this morning…Turkewitz (one of the attorneys) kept calling…his phone would go to voicemail…”
- For almost 30 years, Barnett was a quality manager at Boeing.
- Attorneys said: “He loved his work”
- For twenty-eight years he was with Boeing in Everett, Washington. Then, he was transferred in 2010 to the new plant in Charleston. That’s where Boeing builds the 787 Dreamliner.
- According to an article in CCR, “Things started to going downhill,” after Barnett moved to Charleston.
- He gave an interview to CCR in 2019. “The new leadership didn’t understand processes.” “They brought them in from other areas of the company.” “They said they were all buddies there.”
- “That entire team came down. They were from the military side…(their approach was) we are going to do it the way we want to do it. Their motto at the time was – we are in Charleston and we can do anything we want.”
- “They started pressuring us to not document defects, to work outside the procedures, to allow defective material to be installed without being corrected. They started bypassing procedures and not maintaining configurement control of airplanes, not maintaining control of non-conforming parts – they just wanted to get the planes pushed out the door and make the cash register ring.”
- Barnett had been speaking to reporters recently about Boeing production issues, including the incident involving the mid-air blow out of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5, causing decompression of the airplane. (See note)
- “Once you understand what’s happening inside of Boeing, you’ll see why we’re seeing these kinds of issues,” Barnett told ABC News in Australia in late January.
Article about Barnett
- CCR, Interview with John Barnett (below)
- https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/john-barnett-on-why-he-wont-fly-on-a-boeing-787-dreamliner/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20defective%20parts%20was%20the,tracking%20non%20conforming%20parts%20properly.%E2%80%9D
Articles about Boeing
• Pilot lost control of Boeing jet because controls went blank. https://www.yahoo.com /news/pilot-lost-control-boeing-jet-183102753.html
Notes:
- (3/13/24) Boeing is refusing to give information to the NTSB. Managers knew before and requested to have the plane grounded. The airline refused.
- (MSNBC is covering the “Kate photograph” controversy, but not the killing of Boeing whistleblower, or at least not more than a mention.)
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